The Fort Lauderdale City Manager Search Committee held a day of panel interviews on the city manager recruitment, interviewing seven finalists and noting one withdrawal from the pool.

The committee, chaired by Melinda Bowker, ran each candidate through a structured, 45‑minute panel interview with the same 10 questions posed in the same order to preserve procedural equity. The format allotted time for follow‑ups at the end of each interview and closed with a two‑minute candidate statement. Committee members said staff and the contracted recruitment firm collated and curated the question set and served as timekeepers.

Why it matters: The committee’s shortlist will shape which finalists the city commission will consider in later public interviews. Committee members emphasized a consistent, transparent process to compare candidates who come from a range of municipal and public‑works backgrounds.

What the committee did and how the day ran
- The committee began by approving minutes for a prior meeting; the motion passed unanimously, the chair said. No names were recorded in the transcript for the mover or seconder.
- The panel adhered to a strict schedule: 45‑minute interviews, 10 questions in identical order for every candidate, two minutes reserved for closing remarks, and a timekeeper to enforce limits. Committee members were encouraged to hold follow‑up questions until the end of each interview unless they were the questioner and needed immediate clarification.
- One scheduled candidate, Zachary Williams, withdrew from the process and did not attend his interview slot; committee staff said the withdrawal was for personal reasons and not specific to Fort Lauderdale.
- The committee plans to meet Tuesday, Jan. 14, to deliberate and to select a shorter list of finalists the full commission may invite for public interviews Feb. 3–4 (meetings and dates discussed by the committee).

Candidate highlights (panel summaries)
- Raquel Williams: Described executive experience in coastal Florida municipalities, citing capital projects and grant work in Miami Beach (including a public‑private streetscape and below‑ground infrastructure partnership) and interim city manager experience during major rain/flood events. She emphasized infrastructure planning, emergency communications, affordable and workforce housing incentives and zoning changes to reduce development costs.
- David Cook: Described long experience as a city/county manager in fast‑growing jurisdictions (Fort Worth among them). He emphasized capital planning, financing and implementation and noted incident‑response experience including winter storms and nonweather emergencies. He also volunteered an ethics episode from a prior controversy, saying he apologized to staff when a perception issue arose and used it as a learning moment; he said ethics and the ICMA code matter to him.
- Carrot (Kareef) Fiddler: Identified as a public‑works director with hands‑on construction and transit experience; emphasized emergency management experience (incident command) and the need for creative solutions for housing and growth when infrastructure is constrained.
- John Murphy ("JJ"): Pointed to long municipal executive experience, including strategic planning, economic development and major capital programs. He stressed data‑driven budgeting and prior work assembling multi‑party infrastructure financing (public‑private and tax‑increment style tools) to attract jobs and pay for projects.
- Al Childress: Described experience in redevelopment, grants and resiliency projects; he cited prior leadership in communities with coastal and tourism economies and said he would prioritize outreach and transparency if hired.
- Jason Davis: Cited a career in county government and emergency management; emphasized infrastructure and utility expertise, and called out extensive grant‑seeking as a way to stretch local dollars for resilience and construction projects.
- Matthew Vanderhaeidan: Stafford Township manager and water/wastewater director; emphasized technical background in utilities and chemistry, emergency management certifications, and an ability to assemble plans that win federal and state funding (he reported roughly $50 million in grant awards during his tenure).

Common themes across interviews
- Infrastructure and storm‑resilience readiness were central concerns across candidates; several said Fort Lauderdale’s coastal context will keep storm response and long‑term capital investment front and center.
- Affordable and workforce housing repeatedly surfaced as a major local challenge; candidates discussed mixed‑use redevelopment, public‑private partnerships, and zoning or subsidy strategies to produce units tractably.
- Emergency management: Candidates described EOC roles, multi‑agency coordination, and public communications as essential leadership tasks, particularly given expected climate‑driven weather events.
- Budget/strategic alignment: Candidates described linking strategic plans to capital and operating budgets and using data and performance systems to prioritize investments.

Next steps and timetable
The committee will reconvene Tuesday (Jan. 14) to further narrow the pool and produce a recommended shortlist for the commission’s consideration; commissioners indicated they expect to interview finalists Feb. 3–4 and may hold a candidate meet‑and‑greet the evening before. Committee members asked staff to confirm each finalist’s continued interest following interviews before the Jan. 14 deliberations.

Ending: The committee chair thanked staff and the contracted firm for organizing the interviews and said video of the sessions will be available on the city’s YouTube channel; members asked staff to preserve interview notes as records of the public meeting process.